E-readiness: the Netherlands move up to the 7th position and Belgium to the 20th

Every year, the Economist Intelligence Unit publishes, in collaboration with the IBM Institute for Business Value, a ranking based on six categories of e-readiness: connectivity and technology infrastructure, business environment, social and cultural environment, legal environment, government policy and vision and consumer and business adoption. A country’s e-readiness is a measure for the e-business environment, as well as for a collection of factors that indicate the extent to which the market is open to Internet-based opportunities and for the way in which individuals and businesses use digital goods and services.

The recently published ranking for 2008 reveals that some European countries have experienced a reduction in scores: Denmark (which has been number one for years) dropped to number 4, while Sweden dropped from 2 to 3 and Switzerland dropped from 5 to 11. The Netherlands moved up from 8 to 7 and Belgium remained on 20.

The average e-readiness score also rose: from 6.24 in 2007 to 6.39 on a scale from 1 to 10. By way of comparison: the Netherlands reached a score of 8.74 (coming from 8.50 in 2007) and Belgium’s score also increased from 7.90 in 2007 to 8.04 in 2008.